Alcohol

In the late 19th Century Holsten Brauerei first began trading in the UK when they purchased a brewery in Wandsworth, London. Holsten Pils was first imported into the UK in 1952 thus creating the premium packaged lager market. In 1979 the first of many award winning TV ad campaigns was launched featuring actorDonald Pleasence. In the mid-1980s Holsten became the UK’s number one selling premium packaged lager. Up until 1999, Holsten UK operated as a joint venture between Holsten Brauerei and S & N., but in that year the joint venture was dissolved and Holsten UK took over responsibility for the on-trade, followed in 2000 by the off-trade.

Foster’s Lager is an internationally distributed Australian brand of 5.2% abv pale lager. It is a product of Foster’s Group brewed under licence in several countries, including the U.S. and Russia. The European rights to the beer are owned by Heineken International, who brew and distribute a 4% ABV Foster’s in most European countries, including the United Kingdom, Greece, France, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Finland, Germany, Spain,Sweden, Ukraine and Ireland. In the United States and India, rights to the brand are owned by SAB Miller. In Canada, Foster’s is brewed by Molson Canada under licence from Foster’s Brewing International.

Foster’s brand is also used on several other beers, including Foster’s Premium Ale, and Fosters ESB (Extra Special Bitter) which has been discontinued.

In recent years, Foster’s has consistently sold in the region of 5 million hectolitres each year in the UK, making it the best selling beer after Carling. While international marketing of the beer often focuses on its Australian connections, Foster’s does not enjoy widespread popularity in Australia.

Tia Maria is a coffee liqueur made originally in Jamaica using Jamaican coffee beans. The main flavor ingredients are coffee beans, cane spirit, vanilla, and sugar, blended to an alcoholic content of 31.5% (alcoholic content as sold has been reduced to 26.5%).

It’s actual history is difficult to ascertain. The historical fable of its origins dates it to the 1700’s. Supposedly, a young Spanish girl was forced to flee the family plantation during a conflict. She was accompanied by a sole servant who carried a bit of jewelry and the recipe for the family liqueur. In honor of the woman’s help, the girl named the liqueur “Tia Maria,” her name for the woman who had helped save her life. One account of its history says that a man named Dr. Evans discovered the drink after World War II, and he began reproducing it. Since the company called Tia Maria International Limited was incorporated in 1929, this seems unlikely. This story of Dr. Evans devotion to the drink is part of the official website’s history, however. According to some sources, it was actually created in Jamaica in the 1930’s. The Jamaican company Lascelles supposedly manufactured the concentrate from which the liqueur was made, at least, up until the time it was sold by Pernod.

Cinzano vermouths date back to 1757 and the Turin herbal shop of two brothers, Giovanni Giacomo and Carlo Stefano Cinzano, who created a new “vermouth rosso” (red vermouth) using “aromatic plants from the Italian Alps in a [still-secret] recipe combining 35 ingredients (including marjoram,thyme and [a species of Achillea called] musk yarrow)”. What became known as the “vermouth of Turin” proved popular with the bourgeoisie of Turin and, later, Casanova.

Cinzano Bianco followed, based on a different combination of herbs that included artemisia (wormwood), cinnamon, cloves, citrus and gentian; it was followed by an Extra Dry version. Exports began in the 1890s, to Argentina, Brazil and the USA, among others. In Paris in 1912, Cinzano was the first product to be advertised with a neon sign.

John Smith’s Brewery(John Smith Ltd) is a brewing company that traces its origins to the founding of the Backhouse & Hartley brewery in 1778 at Tadcaster in North Yorkshire, England. John Smith purchased the brewery in 1847. The company grew to be one of the largest regional brewers in the country, owning over 1800 outlets for their beer. The company was taken over by Courage in 1970 who extended distribution of the beer nationwide. Courage were taken over by Scottish & Newcastle in 1995, by which time John Smith’s was the highest selling ale brand in the country. S&N were taken over by Heineken in 2008.